The Internet - the World Wide Web - is becoming the new Yellow Pages. Consumers are doing thei.company and product research online before making their final choice to purchase. Consumers are also purchasing more and more online. Every year.commerce online is growing exponentially. Part of this
is due to the variety of products that consumers can access online. We can buy jewelry from India, clothing from the UK or services from China.
If you are a business owner without a website to promote
Your business and/or sell your products, and want to know the basic steps to get you.company or products online, help is right here. I have provided you with a sequential list of the basic steps to get your website up and running successfully.
1. The first and probably obvious step is creating a website. If you want to sell your items online, you will require a site with shopping cart capabilities. This can be mor.complicated than a simple non-retail website.
If you are tech-savvy, you may be able to do this yourself. If the idea of getting up and personal wit.computer code frightens you, then perhaps you should have someone create a website for you. There are man.companies out there who can help you get started. You will have to provide the photos and contentleave the rest to the professionals. (You wouldn™t want a web developer creating your jewelry, would you?)
2. This step could be considered part of the first. However, because of its importance in making your site searchable on the World Wide Web, I like to consider it as its own task.
Take some time to determine appropriate and concise site/page titles, your site description an.company/product keywords. These descriptives will be used as your website page titles, meta-tags and for search engine and directory submissions. I strongly recommend that you make a simple file of these descriptives, as you will be using them regularly in the latter steps.
An expert in SEO, Search Engine Optimization, will be able to help you in choosing the best words and descriptions to use, in order to gain a higher position on the major search engines of the World Wide Web.
3. Next, you will need to find a web hostin.company (or ISP Internet Service Provider). This is the service which will maintain your website live on the Internet. As there are many options out there, your website developer or Webmaster should be able to help you find the most appropriate provider based on your website requirements.
4. You should now be LIVE on the Internet! But, who knows about you and your site? You will need to be registered with the major search engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN. Without being on these search engines, your life on the Internet could be very short lived.
For Google and Yahoo, you should register a sitemap (this is like a table of contents of your website). There are programs available to both produce and submit the sitemaps to Google and Yahoo. MSN does not use sitemaps. You simply need to register with them.
5. Not only should you submit your website to the major search engines but, listing your site in related directories can be extremely effective in getting your site seen. The most effective directory resources are themed or specific to a particular characteristic or product. The reason for their success is that the specific product offerings provides consumers a one-stop shopping experience for the specific item they are searching for. For example, if you are a consumer looking for jewelry stores, a
TopJewelShops.com jewelry directory is a great place to find a huge variety of jewelry shopping options all in one place.
With my experience in developing web sites, directories appropriate to your product, service or location have proven to be a significant source of traffic.
There are many other ways to advertise on the Internet and receive more traffic. These steps go beyond basic. I will be discussing these options in another article. Keep watching for it.
6. Last but not least, as with any business project, your progress and results should be analyzed to ensure that you are promoting your website with the best keywords and descriptions, in the best places, and for the best effect. Often your ISP will provide you with web statistics specific to your site. I strongly recommend that you use them to help track your progress and growth.
Get
Your business growing! Get online today!
Copyright 2006 Shelly Whitney
Shelly Whitney is a web fanatic (some prefer the word, developer), Interior Designer/Decorator and Fashionista (with a great sense of humour). She is involved with the design and implementation of several websites including online retail stores,
ClothesAndThings.com, online directories,
ClothesDirectory.net,
MrsPrice.com TopJewelShops.com, and of course, her true passion,
InspiredInteriors.ca Inspired Interiors.
